I lay there, too stunned at first to move. Eventually the dust cleared and gave way to the outline of an enormous man. He was raggedy-looking and had two girls with him; they all looked rather pissed and were coming straight for me.
“Hadley, let me out,” Asher hissed at me. “I can’t help you with these things on my wrists.”
I didn’t even have a chance to decide to let him go or not before the first girl lunged at me. Rolling a few feet away, I pushed myself up onto my feet and took a defensive stance.
“I was thinking about remodeling, but this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind,” I said, looking at the structure they’d destroyed.
The girl gave me an annoyed look. Guess Sammy’s pack weren’t the joking types. No matter. I could be serious, too.
“What are you waiting for? Come and get me,” I said, beckoning her forward with my finger.
That was all the encouragement she needed. Without waiting for another invite, she ran at me, raising her leg to strike me in the side. I might’ve been more worried if she hadn’t been wearing metallic stretch pants and out-of-date orange tennis shoes. An outfit that tacky didn’t give me much confidence in her abilities. If your look has expired, chances are, so have your fighting skills.
Just like I’d thought, she was totally predictable, and I reached for her leg and used her own momentum to toss her right past me and into the far wall. She landed with a thud and then remained on the ground.
Satisfied that she was down for the moment, I turned back to the other two. Neither of them had bothered to move from their spots. The girl looked a little less sure of herself now that I’d done away with her friend. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other as if she was trying to decide whether she should stay or run. Finally, she looked over to the guy for direction.
Her buddy wasn’t as hesitant and gave me a nasty smile. His leer made me uncomfortable, though I didn’t want to show it.
“Who’s next?” I asked, already knowing the answer but hoping to move things along, and away from Asher, who was still cuffed behind me.
The brute in front of me only grunted in response and then lifted up his arms to prepare for a spell.
“Tiamus perplexigun!” he shouted, pointing in my direction.
I attempted to get out of the way in time, but I felt the buzz of the charm hit me on the back of the leg as I sprinted to the right. It felt like the electric shock from one of those joke hand buzzers—only this one moved through my body, up my legs, past my stomach, and then down my arms toward my fingertips. I figured it would just pass through my hands and out the other side like a lightning bolt. In fact, I was starting to wonder why he’d bothered to send such a weak spell my way when my hands connected tightly at the wrists and stuck that way.
Looking down at them, I was horrified to see they were bound together. Not with handcuffs like I’d placed on Asher but instead with what seemed to be an invisible force. It felt like little magnets had been implanted into my wrists. I tried to pull them apart, but they wouldn’t budge.
The skeezy guy laughed. He was enjoying seeing me struggle. It was all I could do to force myself to stop and think, racking my brain for any spell I’d ever been taught that could get me out of his hold. But then I was being pulled across the floor, as if led by a rope attached to the ties that bound me. Fighting against it the whole way, I dug my heels into the floor and listened to them scrape across the surface as he willed me closer and closer to him. I didn’t want to know what he planned to do once he got his hands on me.
Finally, something Jackson had said in one of our classes popped into my mind. I stopped fighting and moved forward willingly. A smile broke out on my adversary’s face. He thought I’d given up.
Just as I was nearly close enough for him to reach out and touch me, I pulled on the magic rope and flung myself at him as hard as I could. This was the last thing he’d expected me to do, so when I hit him, he lost his balance and fell backward, landing hard on the ground.
As soon as he was down, my wrists sprang free, exactly as I’d suspected they might. Many years before, we’d been taught that a spell like this is useful only as long as the caster is concentrating on his powers. Oftentimes if you’re able to distract the spell caster enough, their mind will wander, letting go of the spell and allowing you time to get away.
Stunned at what had just happened, the hulk of a man looked up at me. I waved and threw him my own devilish smile. Then, before he could recover, I sent a piece of the roof falling down on top of him, ensuring that it would take the Parrishable quite a while to climb his way out from beneath the rubble.
“Hadley!”
“I’m kind of busy right now, Asher,” I warned, my gaze now fixed on the only other girl left standing in the room.
The girl looked over at her friend, who was lying on the ground, and then over at the unconscious guy just a few feet away. It was as if I could see her thought process: “Do I run and risk the wrath of my coven leader or stay and most likely get my ass kicked by this girl?”
Apparently, it wasn’t a very difficult decision. A few seconds later the girl took off, running back through the hole that used to be the door to the shed.
“Good choice,” I said, watching her disappear. I started to follow but heard some shuffling and then a throat clearing behind me.
“Had! Let me out of these so I can help you,” Asher said, lifting his arms to show the cuffs that were still locked in place around his wrists.
I paused and considered what he was asking me to do. I fully believed the story he’d told me earlier. And it was hard to deny that there was something strong between us. I even thought that he was telling me the truth that he’d never intended to hurt me. If Samuel hadn’t forced Asher to deceive me, I don’t think he would have.
But there was the pesky matter of his sister being held captive by our mutual enemy. If Asher was given the choice between saving her and fighting alongside me to defeat Samuel, I couldn’t be sure what he’d do. And under the circumstances, could I really blame him for choosing her? She was his family, and we’d only known each other for a week.
Sister trumps potential girlfriend. At least in this case.
I also had to remind myself that the Cleri was my family and their safety had to be my first priority. Still, it was hard for me to completely ignore the fact that I’d finally found my perfect match. But if Asher was never given the ultimatum, maybe I could save all of us. Asher and his sister included. So I ran back to Asher, threw my arms around his neck, and gave him a long kiss that, had we not been in the middle of a war, would have definitely been the start of something hot.
When I pulled away, his eyes stayed closed for a few beats before he opened them and studied my face dreamily. I ran my hand down his cheek, noting the perfect softness of his skin. Kissing him once more, I pulled back and looked at him.
“I love you too, Asher,” I said, hoping he knew it was true.
He smiled at me in that lopsided, love-struck kind of way. It almost made me feel bad. Slowly, I stood up and took a step away from him, watching as his smile dropped in confusion.
“I love you, but it’s safer for us both if I don’t let you go,” I said apologetically. “I hope you understand, Asher, and if we get out of this thing alive and you still feel the same way, I hope we can both find a way to make it up to each other.”
Then, before I could change my mind, I jumped through the hole in the shed and out into the darkness of the night.